Harris, 84, from Bray in Berkshire, was convicted of nine assaults between 1968 and 1985 – one on a girl aged seven or eight, and the rest on teenagers between 14 and 19. The law at the time put the punishment at a maximum of two years, or five years for victims under 13. The remaining three guilty verdicts were for three counts of indecent assault on Tonya Lee, who has waived her right to anonymity, in 1986 when she was 15, when the maximum penalty had changed to 10 years.

The court heard earlier that the crown would not be pursuing Harris on four charges of making indecent images relating to more than 30 photographs thought to have been of children, possibly involving two girls younger than 13, found among thousands of pornographic images on his computer.

Harris hid in plain view. In 2001, Rebecca Tyrrel wrote in the TelegraphofdearoldRolf: